1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a public wireless LAN (Local Area Network) connection servicing device and method, and more particularly to the public wireless LAN connection servicing device and method that includes a utilization ticket for adding a wireless IC tag to a portable terminal to make settings of a communication relation in the portable terminal, so that the portable terminal may be connected to a public wireless LAN and a ticket issuing device for issuing the utilization ticket, to provide a user of the portable terminal with service of making the above communication-related settings.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-079109 filed on Mar. 18, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a user utilizes a public wireless LAN connection (hot spot) service, conventionally settings of a wireless LAN adapter, such as a wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key or an extended services set-identity (ESS-ID), network settings of an Internet protocol (IP) address or a default gateway, and installing of various kinds of communication application programs to be used have been made to a portable terminal of the user in advance.
When making such wireless LAN adapter settings and network settings, depending on providers who provide the hot spot service, the user has to keep in mind such points as the wireless LAN adapter and contents of network settings that vary with their security policies and portable terminal configurations and operation methods in setting that vary with types of the wireless LAN adapter and the portable terminal.
Further, to utilize a special communication application, conventionally it has been necessary to install a dedicated communication program prepared by the hot spot service provider or a like.
These points may not be difficult to perform for the user familiar with an operation of network equipment, but are difficult to do so for the user not familiar with the operation of network equipment, thus leading to a problem that the user cannot utilize the hot spot service after all even if the user wants to do so. Further, for example, even the user familiar with the operation of network equipment cannot easily set the wireless LAN adapter or a network properly when the user is on the road, which is a significant drawback. Therefore, means and a method for facilitating such settings have been desired by the user not familiar with the operation of the network equipment so that the user can make settings without assistance from persons familiar with it; and means and a method for facilitating such settings have been desired by the user familiar with it so that the user can make settings when the user is on the road.
Conventionally, as these means and methods, those have been known that are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2003-101545, 2003-178144, 2002-353852, and a like.
Next, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2003-101545 (see pp. 1-8), and 2003-178144 (see pp. 1-28) among the above patent documents will be described in detail.
First, according to a “Method for Controlling Sign-Up of Wireless LAN Terminal for Wireless LAN, Wireless LAN Base Station device, and Wireless LAN Terminal Device” described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-101545, configuration information of a plurality of wireless LANs from a wireless base station are transmitted to a wireless LAN terminal based on authentication information of a wireless tag added to the wireless LAN terminal, to connect the wireless LAN terminal to any one of the plurality of wireless LANs without jeopardizing security of resources or a like on the wireless LANs in such a manner that a user of the wireless LANs may not need to know about an LAN configuration.
Also, with configurations of a “Method for Assisting Provision of Network Connection Service” described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-178144, to permit a computer to access a service providing system, an on-line sign-up program required to rewrite a setting file of the computer is provided, to facilitate provision of service related to utilization of a network, thereby permitting persons having less knowledge of the computer to access the network relatively easily.
Configurations disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-101545 are based on the assumption that its invention is utilized on a restricted condition of a factory or a like and suffers from a great bottleneck that a wireless tag needs to be attached to a terminal in advance, so that it is not well suited for utilization of public wireless LAN connection service when the user is on the road, and that configuration information of a plurality of wireless LANs from a wireless base station are transmitted to a wireless LAN terminal and obtained; and so configuration information of a wireless LAN that need not be connected is also stored in a memory in the wireless LAN terminal, so that the memory cannot be utilized effectively, and also has such a disadvantage that if, for example, the wireless LAN terminal with the wireless tag is lost, the lost wireless tag may be hijacked illegally by a third party.
Configurations disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-178144 are based on the assumption that an on-line sign-up program is provided only to a computer. Therefore, a small portable apparatus such as a portable telephone or a built-in apparatus is not provided with an interface having an external medium such as CD-ROM (compact disc-read only memory) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory often, so that the program cannot be installed in it in some cases. Further, the installing involves much manpower, and therefore is troublesome. Further, some types and apparatus configurations have a disadvantage that they cannot be applied to different contents of settings of the wireless LAN or the network.